2nd Annual Dubuque High Schools Juried Art Show at the University of Dubuque

Jan 6, 2015 | Kristi Lynch

The University of Dubuque’s Bisignano Art Gallery located within Heritage Center, will open its next exhibition, Dubuque High Schools Juried Art Show, on Thursday, January 8 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. The exhibition highlights works juried by high school art teachers from Dubuque Senior High School, Hempstead High School, and Wahlert High School. The 14 works in the show are in various media including ceramics, painting, photography, pen and ink, multimedia, and weaving.

According to Bisignano Art Gallery Director Alan Garfield, the juried show was quite successful last year. This is the second year for Dubuque high schools art students to show their work together, and the show is marked by “real pep, pace, and force that puts the emphasis on story telling”. Garfield credits the success of the exhibit to the coordination between the various art teachers and Cheryl Werner, the Dubuque City School District coordinator for the arts.

In a juried show, typically the juror(s) are unknown to the artists. There is a distinct desire for dispassionate distance in most juried shows. Not here. “We asked the teachers themselves to choose the artwork,” said Garfield, adding that, “These are the teachers who instruct and meet with these students on a daily basis. No, this isn’t the equivalent of asking a parent to choose a ‘favorite’ child - obviously a ridiculously impossible task. We asked each teacher to operate in a different way, not in the capacity of a teacher or an advisor, but as a judge with a bit of psychical distance, if possible. This the teachers did with admirable skill. Art teachers need to examine their own work and skills in a new light from time-to-time, just as they ask students to reflect on their work.”

According to Garfield, this show does not purport to demonstrate an aesthetic or direction in art by these 14 students in Dubuque. “How could it,” Garfield stated, “here we have different students with different teachers exploring different content within different media and skillsets. And yet we clearly see postmodern visual arts in this show - the notion of a rejection of ‘pure form’ and objective beauty, choosing instead to rely on the fusion of disparate art elements and form.”

The Opening Reception for the exhibit will be on Thursday, January 8, from 5:30-7:00 p.m. at the Bisignano Art Gallery, on the main floor of Heritage Center. Refreshments will be served.

The public is invited and the show is free of charge. For more information, please contact Alan Garfield at 563.589.3717 or email agarfield@dbq.edu.

WHAT: Opening of the 2nd Annual Dubuque High Schools Juried Art Show at the University of Dubuque’s Bisignano Art Gallery

WHEN: Thursday, January 8, 2015 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.

WHERE: Bisignano Art Gallery at Heritage Center, University of Dubuque